the jury also decided to award two special mentions to andra matin, an indonesian architect, and rahul mehrotra, principal of mumbai-based architecture firm RMA architects. finally, the board of directors of la biennale di venezia, chaired by paolo baratta, bestowed the golden lion for lifetime achievement — upon the recommendation of curators yvonne farrell and shelley mcnamara — to kenneth frampton. see each of the awarded participants below, and follow designboom’s ongoing coverage from venice here.

golden lion for best national participation

the swiss pavilion has been awarded the golden lion for best national participation image by christian beutler / keystone (also main image)

the jury praised the swiss pavilion’s curatorial team ‘for a compelling architectural installation that is at once enjoyable while tackling the critical issues of scale in domestic space’.‘svizzera 240 is about looking at empty flats,’ explains alessandro bosshard, li tavor, matthew van der ploeg, and ani vihervaara, a young team of architects from ETH zurich. ‘we want to take the visitors on a house tour, which offers you an exaggerated architectural sensibility through which you see the peculiarities of your own home from the perspective of an outsider.’

meanwhile, great britain received a special mention for ‘the courageous proposal that uses emptiness to create a ‘freespace’ for events and informal appropriation’. the pavilion has been covered with scaffolding that supports a roof-level piazza. contrasting this new public gathering space on the roof, the interior of the pavilion has been left intentionally abandoned — untouched after the last exhibition in 2017. read more on designboom here.

golden lion for the best participant

eduardo souto de moura was praised by the jury for ‘the precision of the pairing of two aerial photographs, which reveals the essential relationship between architecture, time and place.freespace appears without being announced, plain and simple.’

silver lion for a promising young participant

architecten de vylder vinck taillieu is a belgian practice based in ghent image by italo rondinella, courtesy of la biennale di venezia

ghent-based firm architecten de vylder vinck taillieu, comprising belgian architects to jan de vylder, inge vinck, jo taillieu, was awarded the silver lion for a project that ‘possesses a confidence thanks to which slowness and waiting allow architecture to be open to future activation’.

the studio is led by jan de vylder, inge vinck, and jo taillieu image by italo rondinella, courtesy of la biennale di venezia

the board of directors of la biennale di venezia, chaired by paolo baratta, bestowed the golden lion for lifetime achievement — upon the recommendation of curators yvonne farrell and shelley mcnamara — to kenneth frampton.

designboom’s coverage of the 2018 venice architecture biennale is in partnership with leading energy company edison. edison is taking part in the 16th international architecture exhibition of la biennale di venezia by initiating a path towards sustainability and the efficient use of resources. the collaboration between edison and la biennale is based on awareness that energy is one of the fundamental elements of architecture and of the places, spaces and cities of contemporary life.

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